This is a really easy yet exceptional Chocolate Cake that truly tastes of chocolate. The crumb is beautifully tender and moist, and it keeps for up to 5 days. It requires no beater, just a wooden spoon.
Frost generously with Chocolate Buttercream Frosting for a terrific birthday cake or chocolate ganache for a luxurious rich option. For a richer, fudgier chocolate cake, try this Chocolate Fudge Cake. The ultimate glaze to impress, however, is without a doubt Chocolate Mirror Glaze…..
This is the Chocolate Cake
If you’ve been reading for a while, you know that sometimes I get real stubborn about doing certain things the “right way”. And there’s also a time and a place for shortcut recipes and quick dinners.
Then there’s recipes like this Chocolate Cake which tick all the boxes – it’s easier than the way I’ve been making everyday cake for most of my life, and the results are better.
You’ll love how it really does taste of chocolate even though it’s only been made with cocoa powder (the secret is to add boiling water – it makes the chocolate flavour “bloom”).
You’ll love how tender the crumb is, and how it stays moist for 4 to 5 days.
You’ll love how the cake can stand on its own so you could just dust it with icing sugar then serve slices with dollops of cream on the side. Though of course, smothering it with frosting never hurts….
This is the famous Hershey’s Chocolate Cake recipe which I tried on the recommendation of Michelle from the Brown Eyed Baker (one of the first places I go in hunt for baked goods). I tried it without massively high expectations, because I thought “how much better can this be than the usual, being such a simple recipe?”
I love being proved wrong when it comes to food. So wrong in fact, that even though I tinkered with the recipe multiple times, I landed right back where I started using the recipe exactly as written.
I truly think this might be the only recipe on my entire website that I’m publishing from another source without changing the ingredients at all. It’s unheard of! But to me, it’s perfect as it is. I don’t see myself using any other recipe for an everyday Chocolate Cake, ever again.
Incredibly quick and easy
It’s astonishingly quick to make the batter, with all the ingredients mixed up in one bowl using a whisk.
There’s no need to cream butter like the usual recipes because this one is made with oil which is the reason why this cake is beautifully moist. No more dry chocolate cake! 🙌🏻 (Also means this is more forgiving than most, having once accidentally left it in the oven for 15 minutes longer than necessary and it still wasn’t dry).
I’m publishing this recipe as part of the Easter Recipes posted yesterday! So here it is, dolled up for Easter. The same cake in the photos above, the same frosting, topped with speckled Easter eggs, baby chicks (both from Woolworths in Australia), and a chocolate basket. I’ve provided directions in the notes of the recipe for how I made that chocolate basket (hint – it involves a balloon…).
My everyday Chocolate Cake
Easter aside, I call this my everyday Chocolate Cake because it’s just that – my new favourite to make for any occasion. There will be times that call for a mud-cake like Fudge Cake made with both cocoa powder and melted chocolate. There will be times that call for intensely dark chocolate cakes. There will be times that you need / want the nutty brownie-like Flourless Chocolate Cake. And there will be times you’re after one that’s light-as-air, a delicate chiffon cake.
This one is for all the other times when you just want a great, classic Chocolate Cake. Which in my world, is 80% of the time! – Nagi x
Watch how to make it
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Chocolate Cake
Ingredients
- 1 3/4 cups plain / all purpose flour
- 3/4 cup cocoa powder , unsweetened (Note 2)
- 1 1/2 tsp baking powder
- 1 1/2 tsp baking soda (bi-carb soda)
- 2 cups white sugar (Note 1)
- 1 tsp salt
- 2 eggs (~55-65g / 2 oz each)
- 1 cup milk (low or full fat)
- 1/2 cup vegetable oil (or canola)
- 2 tsp vanilla extract
- 1 cup boiling water
Chocolate Buttercream Frosting
- 1 1/2 batches Chocolate Buttercream Frosting (slide scaler on recipe)
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 180C°/350°F (160°C fan). Read Note 4 regarding shelf positions.
- Grease 2 x 22cm/9" cake pans with butter, then line the base. (Note 3 re: springform pans and other pan sizes).
Batter:
- Sift flour, cocoa, baking powder and baking soda into a large bowl. Add Sugar and salt. Whisk briefly to combine.
- Add eggs, milk, oil and vanilla. Whisk well to combine until lump free - about 30 seconds.
- Add boiling water and whisk to incorporate. The batter is VERY thin (see video).
- Pour batter into cake pans.
Baking:
- Bake for 35 minutes or until a wooden skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean. See Note 4 regarding cook time if pans are on different shelves.
- Cool for 10 minutes, then turn out onto wire racks upside down (Note 5).
- Cool completely before frosting. I frosted the cake with my Chocolate Buttercream Frosting (scale recipe up by 50%).
Recipe Notes:
- bundt pan - 50 minutes
- single 22cm/9" pan - 40 to 45 minutes
- 2 x 20cm / 8" pans - 38 minutes
- 3 x 20cm / 8" pans - 25 minutes
- 33 x 22 x 5 cm / 13 x 9 x 2" rectangle pan - 35 - 40 minutes
Nutrition Information:
Life of Dozer
Dozer vs tiny toy chick.
Chick won.
Lana says
Literally the best chocolate cake recipe I’ve ever tried! Typically all my cakes fall, flatten and flop, (and a dense rich choc cake is not my style) but this cake *chefs kiss* it is light, fluffy, as if it was a chocolate cloud that won’t fall or fail! Stays moist for a good couple of days to prolong the savoured cake which is incredible! Thank you for sharing this beautiful delectable dish
Stephanie Estridge says
This recipe needs to come with a warning… It’s addicting!!! Best cake I’ve ever had in my LIFE and it came from my kitchen. I just started baking so it’s awesome that I was able to make this so well. I did add some raspberry between layers and omg it just MADE this cake against the chocolate.
Alicia says
Nagi, you’ve knocked it out of the park again – BEST chocolate cake recipe EVER! Made it for a family bbq and received a 5 star rating from everyone. I only put a modest layer of simple icing on the top but it was enough as the cake itself was so light and moist. Definitely going in my ‘recipe tin’.
Jenny says
Awesome recipe as always! It’s my go-to chocolate cake. I have a question about the cocoa though. My understanding is that bicarb needs an acid to react with, and in chocolate cakes that’s the cocoa. If the cocoa is Dutch-processed, though, it’s been alkalised, so has lost that acidity. I use regular cocoa powder so I don’t know, but wouldn’t using Dutch-processed leave it tasting of bicarb and not rise any more than with just baking powder?
Tim says
Thank you so much for this comment. I used dutch cocao and maybe this is why my cake tasted so strongly of bicarb.
I found a whole article on cocoa vs dutch process cocao in baking which explains the difference along with pictures of the results here:
https://www.seriouseats.com/difference-dutch-process-natural-cocoa-powder-substitute
Perhaps I will retry this recipe with normal cocoa, or stick with dutch and add some lemon juice.
Rachel Goldstein says
I was wondering if this can go in a mini bundt pan?
Katie says
This is by far the most tasty and easy choco cake recipe I have ever made. I’m not a baker, my cakes always flop, but this was great. Super simple easy ingredients and so many compliments from the cake taste.
Kate says
Great recipe which I’ve used many times for cakes and also cupcakes. For anyone wondering if SR flour would substitute well, I have tried it using self raising flour as I ran out of plain flour with baking powder & baking soda and it didn’t work; I simply could not get it to cook all the way through.
Joan says
I was excited to taste this recipe after seeing other good reviews. Although once it was in my mouth I did not like it one bit. Although it was moist there was no flavour other than flour, water and oil. I simply started to gag not being able to finish this cake. The only way I could eat it was by adding huge quantities of Nutella. I usually love chocolate cake but next time I will definitely be trying another recipe.
Tammy says
Beautiful recipe . I made 12 butterfly with cream ( muffin sized) and a bar loaf ….my go to for birthday cakes ❤️
Andini says
Hi nagi, I can’t count how many times i’ve made this cake, its so tender and just the right amount of sweet. Thank you so much! wondered if you ever experimented a vanilla version of this?
Liana says
Hi
Can I use the batter to make cupcakes?
Thanks
G-money-roblox-rebel says
Yes you can obvi
Janine says
Hi Nagi. What size of bundt pan can I use for this cake?
christine says
Could melted butter be used instead of oil? Has that been tried with same outcome?
Mayura says
Hi – what measuring cup size you use – please let me know .The conversion to grams seemed off to me .I am from India and i love to try your recipies.
sade says
Hi Nagi,
Or any who can help
Can this recipe make two 10 inch pan?
Sha says
Hi nagi, if i want to make this cake taller, can i bake it in a 7 inch pan?
And if yes, how long should i bake it? Thank you..
Hugo says
Another superb winner from Nagi. Made it for a church dinner and went down a treat, worked out so well on my first go. I used a 20cm square pan, baked it for the same time 35 mins, and it ended up lovely spongy and soft. I then cut up this the large cake into two flat halves instead.
Added the Chocolate Buttercream Frosting and as suggested by Nagi, needed double the amount for the two halves, i.e., 400g butter. I usually half the amount of sugar in most recipes but this one needed at least 1 cup of sugar, 1¼ cups was only just sweet enough. Everyone was so impressed. So perfect. Thanks Nagi!
Lyn L says
I made this for birthday. Very moist n feedback from guests were positive. I reduced the sugar to 1 n 1/2 cup and it’s still sweet in my opinion. After baking it tested bitter but after refrigerated for 1 day the cake tasted sweeter and not bitter anymore. I made a single 7 inch pan plus 3 ramekins. Time taken to bake took close to an hour. Thank you Nagi for yet another yummy recipe.
Alice says
amazing cake! we had it for a bit longer than a week in the fridge and it stayed moist the entire time! I added two teaspoons of instant coffee to the boiling water which worked very well.
Steph says
I layered this cake with a gooey caramel and chocolate ganache for my daughters birthday. The cake was moist and delicious for days! Perfection!